Place the boneless chicken into an 8-quart crock pot.
Add the cubed potatoes, diced tomatoes, sliced carrots, sliced celery, diced onion, and minced garlic to the crock pot.
Next, add the spices. You can use fresh parsley and thyme instead of dried parsley and thyme if you have it. Add the ground pepper and salt to the slow cooker. Add a dried bay leaf to the crock pot.
Fill the crock pot with the chicken broth. Place the lid on the crock pot and cook for 4 hours on high. Or 6 to 8 hours on low or until the chicken meat is cooked through and the potatoes are tender.
Once the meat and the potatoes have finished cooking (after about 4 hours depending on how large the chicken pieces are). Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred with two forks.
Return the shredded chicken meat to the slow cooker. Add the shredded parmesan cheese and the corn starch and water to the slow cooker. Stir to combine.
Recover the slow cooker and continue to cook until the cheese has melted and the stew has thickened about 15 minutes.
Serve the chicken stew with a crusty loaf of bread or crackers.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
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Recipe Expert Tips
What size crock pot works best?: Using a larger crock pot then your recipe might need helps the stew recipe cook faster in the slow cooker. It takes much longer for a smaller slow cooker that has been filled to the brim to heat up the contents than it does to heat a larger slower cooker that is only ½ to ¾ full.
Boneless chicken: I used boneless skinless white meat but boneless skinless chicken thighs can be used instead.
How to prevent peeled potatoes from browning: Chicken stew calls for cubed potatoes. Once you have peeled and cubed the potatoes cover them with cold water to prevent them from browning while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
How to keep chicken brown drying out in the slow cooker: You may notice that almost all of my crock pot chicken recipes call for whole pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Keeping the chicken pieces whole instead of cubing them before slow cooking them will keep the chicken moist. Small pieces of chicken dry out quickly and will be dried after cooking for an extended period of time in a slow cooker.
Best stew thickener: The best stew thicken you can use is cornstarch and water. Cornstarch will not change the flavor, does not leave lumps floating around and quickly thickens stews and soups.
Best herbs to season stew. Bay leaf is one of the best herbs you can use to season homemade stew or soup.
Best Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated, real Parmesan cheese is the best Parmesan cheese to use for this recipe. Fresh Parmesan cheese might seem like an expensive ingredient but when you are shredding it finely to use in a recipe it goes a long way. My favorite Parmesan cheese is Belgioioso Parmesan Cheese. You can find it in most grocery stores with specialty cheese.